Can't beat camping

In the past, I could only name one thing I didn't like about camping: discomfort. Rocks make my butt cold, logs are poky and never the right height, and in the fall, night time comes early. Eventually we get uncomfortable and head for our sleeping bags way too early. Not this year. We invested in resin stackers and as a result we had endless evenings sitting around a warm campfire telling stories and drinking peppermint tea and beer. When our trip was through, we stashed the chairs in the desert and marked their location on our GPS for our next trip.

Now there's nothing I dislike about camping. Just check out these pictures to see why we spend our vacations in the national forest over Las Vegas, a Hawaiian resort, Disneyland or anywhere.

One of our campsites in the Dixie National Forest.

We found the best campsite of the trip on the Kaibab Plateau with this view of Marble Canyon. Sweet!

Making flapjacks on our pocket rocket stove.

 

 

What you do in Utah, you can tell your friends about

We booked our trip to Utah eight months in advance so we could use frequent flyer miles. Even after that much anticipating the exhilirating hikes, the free time together, the cool, dry air and the crackel of the campfire, this trip did not dissapoint. We've made several visits to the area and there are endless trails, countless canyons and miles of national forest yet to be explored.

 

 

Andi in Peek-a-Boo canyon near Escalante, Utah.

Sometimes your back and your tummy can both touch opposite sides of a slot canyon at the same time.



The golden glow of the shimmering Aspens is always a highlight to our fall trips.

Chris peeks over the edge of a cliff at Red Canyon, not far from Bryce National Park, which we avoided because we prefer to ditch the crowds.

Return to Willis Creek

In 2009 I wrote about some slot canyons that we explored in Southern Utah. We always have such a good time in this area that we returned for two weeks of fun this fall and though we saw a lot of great, new places we also took time to backpack Willis Creek in the Grand Staircase again. The hike follows Willis Creek for about three miles and through several slots that the creek has patiently carved throug the ages. Once out of the canyon we camped on the bank of Sheep Creek in the same spot we slept in 2009. The rocks Chris had stacked for our campstove were right where he left them. We burned juniper and sage and watched as the fire illuminated the canyon wall above us with a warm, orange glow. The full moon emerged and lit the other canyon wall in its bright, white light.

The next day we tried to hike to Bull Gorge, another nearby slot that we attempted to hike down several years ago, but it required ropes. I had hoped we could hike partly up Bull Gorge instead, but we walked for hours and never found it, so it must have been further away than I had guessed. Bull Gorge: 2 Jaspers: 0 But we had fun trying.

Our memorable campsite beside Sheep Creek.

Chris walks beside a huge wall at Sheep Creek.

Just one of the gorgeous slots carved by Willis Creek.

Livin' it up at the Bay Club

The Jaspers have a timeshare they did not use so we were able to trade their timeshare for a week at the Bay Club at Waikoloa Beach Resort. We totally scored! The place was really nice. We walked all over the resort and the expansive grounds at the Hilton, ate free ice cream and also did some odd things we never do- like browsing the Tiffany store and watching TV.

Highlights were watching the sunset on Anaehoomalu Bay and diving the bay the next day. We borrowed a kayak and paddled out to the drop off and anchored the 'yak, which was an adventure in itself because the trade winds were howling. It was like paddling into a hurricane. The reef was healthy and gorgeous out there, but there were no fish. I took one shot at an uhu and I don't know if Chris ever pulled the trigger on his spear gun. We came back empty handed, but it sure was fun.

I used to think it odd that people pay money for a hotel that's a half-hour from home, but it sure felt good to relax at the condo with no chores to be done. On nights we couldn't stay in Waikoloa, a few of our friends went up and got a taste of the resort lifestyle, too.

My sweetheart checks out the sunset at A-Bay.

Parked in front of the Bay Club.

Free Groceries

With the price of groceries and especially steak constantly rising I am really learning to work the grocery sales - thanks to inspiration and training from my mother. I scored some rib eyes for $5.99 a pound at Sack n Save Friday, but the best deal I have found in a while was in Honaunau Saturday - in the ocean.

We hiked into a spot we like for spearfishing because the reef drops off fast and sometimes blue water fish come in. Chris saw several pelagic fish on our dive Saturday and when a fish headed his way he hoped it would be an ono. It turned out to be a barracuda, but he decided to shoot it anyway and we got two nice big fillets out of it. I don't have a photo of the whole fish because we already had 40 pounds of wet wetsuits, weight belts and misc. gear to haul back to the truck so we only brought the fillets home. The barracuda was as long as my leg, from my hip to my toes. With the barracuda, three nenue and uhu we we filled a whole pot with fish.

Barracuda fillet.

Random Photos

I haven't had much time to put into the blog lately so I'll throw a couple of random photos up here to give folks something new to look at.

On a recent hike neark Kealakekua Bay.

Homemade blueberry muffins for breakfast. My mom's are still better.

Driving home on Saddle Road Saturday after dirt biking Mauna Kea.

Now welcoming dinner guests

Except for a few finishing touches our kitchen remodel is complete. Chris has worked really hard this past year on home improvements, and he's especially put in a lot of effort this past month since we tore out the old kitchen.
Jordie Braugh with Original Craft built the cabinets using African mahogany with a clear finish. We are really impressed with the quality. Chris and my dad did the rest of the work, including tiling the floor, installing granite tile counter tops, painting, installing track light and the list goes on.
It doesn't quite feel like our kitchen yet because it's just so darn nice, but I'm sure it won't take long to get used to! It reminds me of the fancy houses I visit when I do write-ups for our newspaper's real estate publication. Now I should learn how to cook fancy food!

This is what the kitchen looked like when we moved in.
It's hard to tell from the photo how worn out the cabinets were or how the smelled.

One month ago today we removed the old cabinets and started smashing up the old tile.

Celebrating our Independence

What a great fourth of July.  Despite rising surf, Chris and I went diving and shot three fish that we brought home and cleaned. Then it was on to a picnic at Duane's where we had good fish, not just reef fish. He served us ono, ahi (cooked or seared), mahi mahi and swordfish, which is Chris' favorite. We ended the day by sitting at the water's edge and watching fireworks that were launched from a barge in Kailua Bay.

Eating raw tuna may not sound as American as hot dogs and apple pie but that in itself demonstrates some of the things I like about this country: the freedom to do (or eat) whatever we want, and diverse cultures and backgrounds. Sometimes it's easier to dwell on where our country has gone wrong rather than celebrate advantages of being American. Recently, I read a book about a woman who survived six years in a North Korean prison camp. That made me appreciate the freedoms and due process we have in American and made me extra proud to fly Old Glory this July 4th.

My mom took this photo of fireworks over Kailua Bay from her house up the moutain.

Birds of Paradise

We planted seven bird of paradise plants last year and now they are blooming. It's been neat to check on them every day and see how the flowers opened up. One of the plants have two blossoms on one stem - I've never seen that before.

Kitchen Demolition

We had a small 3.7 earthquake Friday but that's not what happened to our kitchen. Chris and I smashed up the tile on purpose because we are getting new cabinets this week and we'll re-tile the kitchen to match the living room. I've always liked smashing things up, but it didn't take long to realize removing tile is hard work. We borrowed power tools but in the end, the most effective way to break the tile's grip on the plywood floor was by banging on it with hammers. Our whole house is now a dusty mess but things can only get better from here.
The cabinet removal was a breeze. Chris found someone who wanted the cabinets so they took them down and hauled them away.

Our old cabinets were loaded into a giant moving truck and hauled to their new home in Hilo.

I don't think we'll be having anyone over for dinner this week, our kitchen is a little smashed up.

Summer Camping Trip

I had a few days of vacation time from work that had to be used so I took last week off. Besides lots of chores and working around the house, Chris and I camped on the beach one night, and another night my dad and I camped at Volcano. We cooked brats on his grill and right around sunset 12 endangered nene geese flew overhead. After that, we stayed to watch the steam plume from Halemaumau crater glow red from the lava lake below.
The next day we decided we had explored the park many times, but one place my dad had never been was to Lake Waiau on Mauna Kea so we drove through Hilo and headed up the mountain.

I thought there was a bear at our campsite but it turned out to be my dad hiding behind a chair.

Halemaumau at night. It's a spectacular sight, but living downwind from an active volcano has its drawbacks, the pollution has taken away Kona's bright blue skies and it's probably not healthy to breathe.

A view of Mauna Loa from the 13,000 foot elevation of Mauna Kea.



Sunlight streams through the forest and shines on this Ohia branch.

My dad and I at Lake Waiau on Mauna Kea.

The "Slot Canyon" of Mauna Loa

In 2010 I wrote about a gigantic Mauna Loa lava tube here and here, too. We explored the cave going down and it went about 1.5 miles with no cave ins, but Chris and I never explored the cave heading up until recently. On Memorial we rode our dirt bikes to the entrance of the cave and explored the upper portion. We went about 1/2 mile when we arrived at a cave-in that we could not get down into without ropes so we had to quit. The cave is absolutely enormous and the upper section had many cave-ins, which allowed sunlight into the cave so we could get a good look at its features. We appropriately named the cave slot canyon because it is taller than it is wide and it's so enormous it feels like canyon from inside. Awesome!

To get an idea of this cave's size, look for the silhouette of Chris near the center of the frame.

This section had several cave-ins.

Mauna Kea sets the backdrop with the entrance to the cave in the foreground.

Looking out from the lava tube.

Tennis Ball Cannon

Camp Break

We decided to take a break from our work so we did a one-night backpack along the Kohala Coast. My dad has been talking about camping lately, and he hadn't been in a really long time, so he came, too. We had a nice time and cloudy weather made for a cool hike back across the lava field.

Clouds were welcomed for the hike home.

Cooking oatmeal on the Pocket Rocket.

Improvement Update
We ripped the carpet out of our living room last weekend and placed it under the house. It will be easier to store our surfboards and junk now that the rocky ground has been leveled out and covered with caret. Chris was supposed to ride his dirt bike in the house for a photo op. before we started ripping into the carpet, but we were so anxious to get working that we forgot.

Chris and my dad worked all week on leveling our very uneven living room floor and laying down 1/2 inch plywood so we can begin tiling. The whole house was shrouded in a layer of sawdust created by griding down lumps in the floor. Chris also started installing track lighting in the kitchen, and my dad fixed a damaged door frame. He had the whole living room filled with his tools. We are grateful for his talents and time.

My dad brought a whole wagon of tools over.

Chris painted our entire great room except for the accent wall.

Ripping up the carpet.

Good things big and small

We have planted 77 pineapples in the past 8 months or so. Normally, it takes two years to get a ripe pineapple from a plant, but for some reason, one of our plants flowered and produced a pineapple almost immediately. It is smaller than a softball, but we'll take it!

What's more interesting is the humongous hand of bananas our dwarf banana tree produced. We propped the stalk up with a board and finally, the stalk bent over from the weight of the bananas anyway. We don't have a scale but the hand weighs at least 50 pounds.

A cute, premature pineapple from our patch.

I could barely lift this hand of bananas for the photo.

Warning: work ahead

Chris is going to be busy for the next couple of months. We have four crates of travertine tile for him to lay in the great room and kitchen. We also have new kitchen cabinets coming in a few weeks, so he will have the whole room ripped up. He has lots of painting and wall texturing to do, and he has a weird closet door to tear out, and track ligting to install. I am happy to help, but I offer only unskilled labor.

He and my dad tiled the lanai for practice this week with the same tile we'll use inside the house. It looks great! Chris bought some plywood to put down first that is supposed to make the surface level for tiling and the product is terrible. The boards are warped and won't lay flat and they had a hard time getting the tiles perfectly level. We'll use something different inside the house. It's also harder work than Chris thought, and it's taking longer. He and I worked on grout for more than two hours yesterday and only did 2/3 of the lanai. Yes, Chris is going to be busy for the next couple of months.

Chris installs plywood that's supposed to create a level surface for tile.


Tile is in but we're not finished grouting. What a difference it made to our lanai that used to be dingy, blue carpet.

These boots were made for walkin'

In 2006 I hiked the Grand Canyon in inferior hiking boots and I lost my two big toenails as a result. One still has not grown back properly. As soon as I returned from that trip I went down to see Jim the French horn player at Jim's shoes and he sold me the best pair of boots I have ever owned. They made it through rivers and lava tubes, over mountains and to the bottom of valleys and canyons. They have performed hours of yard work and travelled to several states, two continents and even Japan. They kept up with Chris through our courtship and through almost four years of marriage, while Chris burned through many pairs of combat boots. There is no way to replace a pair of boots like these, so when the day came, I went down to see Jim and purchased another pair just like the last. I wonder where these new boots will take me?

Irish Washerwoman

Here's a fiddle tune for St. Patrick's Day. Be sure to notice the beautiful Celtic sweater my mom knitted for me as a Christmas present. I am so proud of her handiwork, it's the most gorgeous sweater I have ever seen.

More "year of progress" photos

A while back, we made a nice parking area out of grass blocks so that Chris would have a nice surface for parking his truck. It's also a good spot for turning around once cars come into our narrow gate. It took several trips to Home Depot to haul the heavy blocks, and more wear and tear on our gloves to carry the abrasive cement objects, but this area of the yard is now much improved.

I am also happy with the progress of our gigantic weed piles. A yard waste pile in the front yard was three feet tall, three feet wide and almost 200 feet long, but we have since removed the sprouting monstera roots from the pile, smashed it down with our dirt bikes and raked it into a very small pile about four feet by four feet. The other pile by the bananas also shrunk due to rotting, dirt biking on it, and finally using a chipper to get rid of a lot of the sticks. The chipped wood is now keeping our pineapple patch weed-free.


Our yard waste pile was pretty huge.


The waste pile today is much smaller and the area around the bananas looks a whole lot better as a result.


The new grass is growing through our grass block parking area.